CTS Song

In the Gospels of Sts Matthew and Mark there is related the story of St. Peter and the Apostles caught in a storm on the lake. They feared for their survival and their safety until they saw Jesus walk towards them on the water. He stretched out his hand to assist and save Peter. This is the background of our song of welcome.

O, the night was dark and dreary, and the seas were at their height,
And our boat was taking water; who would help us in our plight?

We needed on to guide us, to give us standing in the Church;
For the teaching of St. Thomas is a treasure beyond worth.

And the doctrine of St. Thomas we have tried for years to teach
As explained by dear Doc. Woodbury, concerning truths beyond our reach.

And the hand that stretched to help us came from the Legionaries of Christ
For this gracious affirmation Father*, we welcome you to-night.

For the teaching of St. Thomas what higher praise could be
Than the Master from His Cross, say: "You have written well of me."

As the darkness 'round us thickens, like the barque on Galilee
Come steer our vessel for us, keep us with the Holy See.

The above song written and performed for the Centre for Thomistic Studies, Sydney, Australia

'Reality' Video Highlights Australian Priests' Lives
Cameras Follow Pair as They Serve Their Flock

GEELONG, Australia, OCT. 2, 2003 (Zenit.org).- Father Kevin Dillon and Father Max Vodola have become movie stars of sorts due to the popularity of the video "Priests 24/7."

The two men are not actors, but were serving at St. Mary of the Angles Parish when a video production crew tagged along with them as they were on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Father Vodola is now parish priest of St. Joseph the Worker in North Reservoir in the Melbourne Archdiocese.

John Santamaria, executive producer, wanted to do this project in order to counter adverse media coverage of priests in Australia and highlight the good works done every day by thousands of men who were dedicated to their vocation.

The video portrays Fathers Dillon and Vodola as leaders, teachers, counselors, preachers and celebrants as they visit schools, hospitals and local parishioners.

The film also captures them as men of public and private prayer -- praying alone, preparing homilies and celebrating Mass and the sacraments of marriage and baptism.

Demand has exceeded the expectations of the producers, as more than 300 videos and DVDs have been ordered for schools or parishes. Director Peter Thomas noted, "This is equivalent to a gold record in the music industry."

Santamaria and Father Dillon have made appearances on television and radio, and the independent firm Albert Street Productions is negotiating to secure broadcast rights with an Australian network.
ZE03100220

email this article

Nostalgic Todd Hamster

I had a look on the web for sites that have joke names, here they are for me:

Smurf name: Colicky Smurf
Regae name: Tuff Ranks
Star wars: Kenan Leban of the planet keflex!
Chinese: Kong aining
Authentic American Indian Name: Nostalgic Todd Hamster

The 15th of September is the Feast day of Our Lady of the Seven Dolors.

Also know as the feast day of Our Lady of Sorrows

What are the specific "seven sorrows" of Mary, and why does the Church encourage our liturgical and personal meditation upon these sorrows?

The specific number of sorrows, originally varied, became fixed to these seven events:
1) Simeon's prophecy in the temple
2) the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt
3) the loss of the Christ child in the temple
4) the encounter of Mary with Jesus on the way of the cross
5) the crucifixion and death of Jesus
6) the taking down of Jesus from the cross
7) the burial of Jesus in the tomb.

The Stabat Mater, the medieval sequence recited on this memorial, reminds us:

Can the human heart refrain
From partaking in her pain,
In that Mother's pain untold?

Let me share with you this pain
Who for all our sins was slain,
Who for me in torments died.

from Zenit

A little french humour

Why is the Champs Elysées lined with trees?
So the German Army can march in the shade!


France has neither winter nor summer nor morals--apart from these drawbacks it is a fine country.
- Mark Twain's Notebook

It is against reason to be burdensome to others, showing no amusement and acting as a wet blanket. Those others without a sense of fun, who never say anything ridiculous, and are cantankerous with those who do, these are vicious, and called grumpy and rude.

Nikolai Gogol: "There are certain words which are nearer and dearer to a man than any others. And it often happens that in some remote, god-forsaken corner of the country, in dome deserted spot, you unexpectantly meet a man whose warming words make you forget yourself and the impassability of the roads and the discomfort of the night's lodgings, the senselessness of the noisy contemporary world, and the deceitfulness of the illusions that lead mankind astray. And an evening spent in that way will be forever imprinted on your mind and your memory will retain everything: who was present and who sat in what place and what was in his hands- the walls, the corners, and every trifle in the room."

The Athanasian Creed

After the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed this would be the most well known. It is a beautiful explanation of the Trinity. I hold that the earlier versions and wording are more beautiful than newer translations that I have seen. Try for yourself.

Whosoever will be saved,
before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith.
Which Faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled,
without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.

And the Catholic Faith is this:
That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity,
neither confounding the Persons,
nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father,
another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost.
But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost, is all one, the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal.
Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost.

The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Ghost uncreate.
The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible,
and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible.
The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal.

And yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal.
As also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated,
but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible.

So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty,
and the Holy Ghost Almighty. And yet they are not three
Almighties, but one Almighty.

So the Father is God, the Son is God,
and the Holy Ghost is God.
And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.
So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord,
and the Holy Ghost Lord. And yet not three Lords, but one Lord.

For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge
every Person by himself to be both God and Lord,
So are we forbidden by the Catholic Religion to say,
There be three Gods, or three Lords.
The Father is made of none, neither created, nor begotten.
The Son is of the Father alone, not made, nor created, but begotten.
The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son,
neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.

So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons;
one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.
And in this Trinity none is afore, or after other;
none is greater, or less than another; But the whole three Persons
are co-eternal together and co-equal.
So that in all things, as is aforesaid,
the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.
He therefore that will be saved is must think thus of the Trinity.

Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also
believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess,
that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man;
God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds;
and Man of the substance of his Mother, born in the world;
Perfect God and perfect Man,
of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting.

Equal to the Father, as touching his Godhead; and inferior to the
Father, as touching his manhood; Who, although he be God and Man,
yet he is not two, but one Christ;
One, not by conversion of the Godhead
into flesh but by taking of the Manhood into God;
One altogether; not by confusion of Substance,
but by unity of Person. For as the reasonable soul
and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ;
Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell,
rose again the third day from the dead.
He ascended into heaven, he sitteth at the right hand of the Father,
God Almighty, from whence he will come
to judge the quick and the dead.
At whose coming all men will rise again with their bodies
and shall give account for their own works.
And they that have done good shall go into life
everlasting; and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.

This is the Catholic Faith, which except a man believe faithfully,
he cannot be saved.

I recieved this email today. I think that the sentiments are beautiful.


WITH A COMPLEMENTARY TWIST
I shall also lead you in a method of prayer that is different.
A twist, if you will. Below are two prayers. The first is for
the ladies. The second is for my fellow men. We shall
to the power of the marriage of Joseph and Mary.

So let us begin with the women reading this... in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit...

"O Sweet Lady Saint Mary, you taught us how
to be a perfect woman and gave a broken world
the miracle of Jesus not by grasping for worldly
success, but instead, by offering your unconditional
"Yes" to Saint Gabriel and trusting in God's plan,
even though you did not foresee the suffering this
would bring you at the Crucifixion, or understand
how it could be. You did not even know that Joseph
was being prepared to be your husband. Your fiat
changed the world, right up to this very moment,
as I sit at my computer screen, or read this prayer
on a printed page. Woman to woman, I ask for your
Divine Spouse, the Holy Spirit, to plant the seed of
trust in my heart, despite all my fears of being hurt
and exposing myself to the cruelties or ignorance
of imperfect men. You completely trusted an imperfect
man, a husband born to Original Sin, Saint Joseph,
and today I ask you to go to Joseph, and ask him
to bring my intention, my miracle, before your
Son, and to begin granting it on this perfect day.
With you, with trembling heart, I echo throughout
time and eternity your perfect fiat: Let it be done
unto me according to thy word. Amen."

Men, please join me in this prayer:

"Dear Joseph, chaste spouse of Mary and heir
to the royal line of David, Patron of the Universal
Church, I address you today under your title of
Terror of Demons. One look from your calm gaze
strikes fear into any evil with designs upon my
life and my family. In order to imitate you in your
protection and provision for Mary and Jesus, I
ask you to adopt me, too, as you adopted Jesus.
Yes, bring me under your roof and share with me
your kingly confidence. See that my heart is good,
despite my sins, as your heart is good. In all things,
and in every thing, and in everything beyond every
thing, and as a man before another man, I ask for
your friendship and guidance for my intention.
Ask the Holy Trinity to grant my miracle, using
whatever supernatural and human means are
required. Make my virtue and holiness so like
yours that when women see me, they see you.
Let women feel you, hear you, and pray with you
when they feel, hear, and pray with me. Teach me,
as you taught Jesus, to learn that I must die to
every impurity, every selfish desire, and every
act of self-indulgence that harms the women
in my life. Let me die, and let Joseph live! Let
your powerful Heart of David triumph in my
life as husband and father beyond my wildest
dreams. Not only do I say Yes with you, I so so
with the full confidence of a man who has
been baptized into your holy family. Do not
delay. Now is the time for action. You, Joseph,
surely taught your son to pray the Our Father,
so with you, I pray to the Almighty Father: THY
will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Amen."

Pause. Hmmnn. Thank you for praying with me.
I have a sense that many of you might want to
print out and bring these complementary prayers
to others, even beyond emailing this message to
your friends. Be my guest.

Received from Catholicity

Australia's National Anthemn (original version)

"The tune is generally regarded as uninspiring by comparison with "La Marseillaise", or "Land of Hope and Glory" (the English anthem with a tune borrowed from Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance" march). "Advance Australia Fair" at least has the merit of being much easier to sing than "The Star Spangled Banner", and the lyrics do express some Australian self-beliefs and aspirations. Some ambiguity comes from the enduring popularity of "Waltzing Matilda", which is generally regarded as a much finer tune and has been part of the Australian imagination almost since its composition 120 years ago. However, Matilda's lyrics, detailing the exploits of an itinerant who steals a sheep and then drowns himself in an effort to avoid capture by the police and the local squatter, are regarded by some Australians as unsuitable as an expression of Australian values. "

Originally composed by Peter Dodds McCormick:
Australia's sons let us rejoice,
For we are young and free;
We've golden soil and wealth for toil,
Our home is girt by sea;
Our land abounds in Nature's gifts
Of beauty rich and rare;
In history's page, let every stage
Advance Australia fair!
In joyful strains then let us sing,
"Advance Australia fair!"


When gallant Cook from Albion sail'd,
To trace wide oceans o'er,
True British courage bore him on,
Till he landed on our shore.
Then here he raised Old England's flag,
The standard of the brave;
With all her faults we love her still,
"Brittannia rules the wave!"
In joyful strains then let us sing
"Advance Australia fair!"

Beneath our radiant southern Cross,
We'll toil with hearts and hands;
To make this youthful Commonwealth
Renowned of all the lands;
For loyal sons beyond the seas
We've boundless plains to share;
With courage let us all combine
To advance Australia fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing
"Advance Australia fair!"

While other nations of the globe
Behold us from afar,
We'll rise to high renown and shine
Like our glorious southern star;
From England, Scotia, Erin's Isle,
Who come our lot to share,
Let all combine with heart and hand
To advance Australia fair!
In joyful strains then let us sing
"Advance Australia fair!"

Shou'd foreign foe e'er sight our coast,
Or dare a foot to land,
We'll rouse to arms like sires of yore
To guard our native strand;
Brittannia then shall surely know,
Beyond wide ocean's roll,
Her sons in fair Australia's land
Still keep a British soul.
In joyful strains the let us sing
"Advance Australia fair!"


There have been claims made of a "missing", "lost", or by implication - "censored", verse to Advance Australia Fair. This verse is rumored to have been dropped because of its non-politically correct Christian emphasis. However the truth is that this verse, although well written, was never part of the original song, or part of the official verion. It was created by an unknown person, and has been circulated widely.

The so called "missing" verse is:

With Christ our head and cornerstone,
We'll build our Nation's might.
Whose way and truth and light alone
Can guide our path aright.
Our lives, a sacrifice of love, reflect our Master's care.
With faces turned to heaven above, Advance Australia fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing, Advance Australia fair.


Information from : From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
And Genesis Networks

"It was a pleasure to burn.


It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed. With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history. With his symbolic helmet numbered 451 on his stolid head, and his eyes all orange flame with the thought of what came next, he flicked the igniter and the house jumped up in a gorging fire that burned the evening sky red and yellow and black. He strode in a swarm of fireflies. He wanted above all, like the old joke, to shove a marshmallow on a stick in the furnace, while the flapping pigeon-winged books died on the porch and lawn of the house. While the books went up in sparkling whirls and blew away on a wind turned dark with burning.

Montag grinned the fierce grin of all men singed and driven back by flame."

- Opening Lines of Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

"God whispers to us in our pleasure, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts to us in our pain; it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world." - C.S. Lewis

Facts about boys in Australia:

Boys outnumber girls by 20:1 in juvenile justice facilities in Australia. Boys are less likely to complete their secondary education or proceed to tertiary education.

Boys are many times more likely than girls to suffer accidental death. Boys under 5 years of age are almost four times more likely than girls to be killed by their parent(s) or other carer.

Young males are between 4 to 7 times more likely to take their lives than girls, a difference which has emerged only in the last 30 years. In fact, much of the gender disparity in outcomes in health, education and welfare, of which the above is a sample, has emerged or worsened over this period of time.

'Roe' sues to overturn Roe v. Wade decision

The woman known as "Roe" in the landmark Supreme Court case that struck down all state laws restricting abortion is filing a motion in federal court today to overturn the 1973 decision.

Link to the WorldnetDaily site article
- WorldNetDaily.com

The little things make up fathers' lasting legacies
- USA Today
I wonder whether fathers ... have any idea of how mighty are the small, day-by-day things that they think pass unnoticed and how the 'great' things they do fade so quickly....

He was married to my mother for 60 years and in that time, never even looked (and I mean did not even look, literally) at another woman. If a pretty woman walked down the street by us, he averted his eyes, like a monk.

In becoming Catholics we came to a church that looked wider and deeper than the sentimental, utilitarian and political arguments. We came to a church that looked to more ancient and venerable sources of authority. We wanted a church that had the ability to weigh not only the opinion of the living, but through her veneration of tradition, was able to value the opinion of that most neglected of majorities: the dead. Furthermore, this church not only considered the past, but she looked to the future. She listened to the vociferous demands of our sad, confused and ageing minority in the West, but she also considered the needs and the opinions our young brothers and sisters in Eastern Europe, Asia and the Southern Hemisphere.

Found in this article.

Dwight Longenecker. "A Prophecy Fulfilled." The Catholic Herald.

My Top 5 Books of Recent Time - Fiction

I was going to call this list My Top 5 Books of All Time, until I noticed that I had read all of them in the last 3 years. In no particular order. Here are the books, a short comment, and the opening lines. I have only included two here, but they are definites in the top five.

Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
Achingly beautiful, moving, subtle, rereadable. A tale of sacrifice and love and triumph. Lewis described it as his best work, who am I to argue.

I am old now and have not much to fear from the anger of gods. I have neither husband nor child, nor hardly a friend, through whom they can hurt me. My body, this lean carrion that still has to be washed and fed and have clothes hung about it daily with so many changes, they may kill as soon as they please. The succession is provided for. My crown passes to my nephew.

Watership Down, by Richard Adams
Who could predict that a 20 something year old male would choose a book about rabbits for a favourite. Yet I have. Rereadable, entrancing, a tale of conflict and friendship, of loyalty and love. Sniff.

The primroses were over. Toward the edge of the wood, where the ground became open and sloped down to an old fence and a brambly ditch beyond, only a few fading patches of pale yello still showed among the dog's mercury and oak-tree roots.

Psst - Ever wished you were Cary Grant, here's how

I have some advice about how to buy clothes. It is digestable. Here's a sampling of the good stuff.

Without suits, men would have nothing. In the hierarchy of style, a good suit remains a man’s only trump card...It is designed to make you look better, to break boundaries between social classes, to make a small man tall with pinstripes or a fat man rich with soft wools. ... in short ... It is, in its best forms, a complete outfit that will never fail you.

"Suits are made of wool or cotton, and their variations. Additional fabrics need not apply."

They point out four essential suits


The Basic Black "If you only own one suit, this is it."
Navy Blue for business, with black or brown
The Classic Gray which can be worn with patterns.
Any of the above, with pinstripes.


The Morning News's Men's Style Guide

Other Advice for me!!!

Cuffs – these help the pants to hang properly by providing a little weight at the bottom. They look better on someone with long legs, so the shorter man should definitely avoid them. Everyone else should stick to a maximum 1" cuff for best effect.

‘Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant.’
– Cary Grant

if it were up to you, would you like there to be a God?

You will rail against your work and worry that is it not right. You will question your decisions and disorder will fertilise your soul. But it is not you that are railing, but nature that rises against injustice.

This prophecy was never actually spoken and not just because it is overly wordy, nevertheless it does contain some truth. Ecomomics as if people mattered was the subtitle of a book by Schumacher an ecomonist who questioned the disregard of the human in world affairs. His book was a minor revelation, 20 or so years on Joseph Pearce has written a follow up book.

If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may be even a worse fate. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves. - Winston Churchill on the eve of Britain's entry into World War II

"And you really live by the river? What a Jolly Life."
"By it and with it and on it and in it," said Rat. "It's my world and I don't want any other. What it hasn't got is not worth knowing. Lord, the times we've had together. Whether in winter or summer, spring or autumn, it's always got its fun and excitement."

-Rat to Mole, Kenneth Grahame, Wind in the Willows

Till We Have Faces - First Lines
I am old now and have not much to fear from the anger of gods. I have neither husband nor child, nor hardly a friend, through whom they can hurt me. My body, this lean carrion that still has to be washed and fed and have clothes hung about it daily with so many changes, they may kill as soon as they please. The succession is provided for. My crown passes to my nephew.

The first lines of Till We Have Faces, by C.S. Lewis

Thursday, May 29, 2003 - Chesterton's Birthday
I have always loved the work of G.K.C, the english journalist, artist and philosopher. He was born on this day many years ago. Here are a few quotes:

" If a man cannot make a fool of himself, we may be quite certain that the effort would be superfluous. "
"Right is right, even if nobody does it. Wrong is wrong, even if everybody is wrong about it. "
"Books without morality in them are books that send one to sleep standing up. "
"The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid."
"You cannot make a success of anything, even loving, without thinking. "
"Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere. "
"Man is an exception, whatever else he is. If he is not the image of God, then he is a disease of the dust. If it is not true that a divine being fell, then we can only say that one of the animals went entirely off its head. "
"A new philosophy generally means in practice the praise of some old vice."
"We are fighting about God: there can be nothing so important as that. "

These quotes have been taken from Quenta Narwenion

Our Proposed City - The Society of St John
They are building a new city. From their website:

One of the fundamental claims set forth in the Founding Document of the Society of Saint John is that, generally speaking, the modern lifestyle is not a propitious environment for a sane and Catholic life. Hence the proposal of the Society to create “Catholic cities” centered on the solemn worship of the Church. These cities would serve as the context and frame of a life of worship and, built in the best of our architectonic tradition, they should also offer a clear solution to the demands of modern life. In these cities contemporary man would find the right setting where he may restore his relationship with the sources of traditional wisdom, and thus have the means to be strengthened in his mission of “restoring all things in Christ.”

link:http://www.ssjohn.org/community/proposed_city.html

ODE
Arthur William Edgar O'Shaughnessy
We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamer of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.

With wonderful deathless ditties,
We build up the world's great cities,
And out of a fabulous story
We fashion an empire's glory:
One man with a dream, at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three with a new song's measure
Can trample an empire down.

We, in the ages lying
In the buried past of earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself with our mirth;
And o'erthrew them with prophesying
To the old of the new world's worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.

A breath of our inspiration,
Is the life of each generation.
A wondrous thing of our dreaming,
Unearthly, impossible seeming-
The soldier, the king, and the peasant
Are working together in one,
Till our dream shall become their present,
And their work in the world be done.

They had no vision amazing
Of the goodly house they are raising.
They had no divine foreshowing
Of the land to which they are going:
But on one man's soul it hath broke,
A light that doth not depart
And his look, or a word he hath spoken,
Wrought flame in another man's heart.

And therefore today is thrilling,
With a past day's late fulfilling.
And the multitudes are enlisted
In the faith that their fathers resisted,
And, scorning the dream of tomorrow,
Are bringing to pass, as they may,
In the world, for it's joy or it's sorrow,
The dream that was scorned yesterday.

But we, with our dreaming and singing,
Ceaseless and sorrowless we!
The glory about us clinging
Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing;
O men! It must ever be
That we dwell, in our dreaming and singing,
A little apart from ye.

For we are afar with the dawning
And the suns that are not yet high,
And out of the infinite morning
Intrepid you hear us cry-
How, spite of your human scorning,
Once more God's future draws nigh,
And already goes forth the warning
That ye of the past must die.

Great hail! we cry to the corners
From the dazzling unknown shore;
Bring us hither your sun and your summers,
And renew our world as of yore;
You shall teach us your song's new numbers,
And things that we dreamt not before;
Yea, in spite of a dreamer who slumbers,
And a singer who sings no more.


(1844 - 1881)

I was a naive fool to be a human shield for Saddam

By Daniel Pepper

(Filed: 23/03/2003)

"I must say I find television very educational. The minute somebody turns it on I go into the library and read a good book."
--Julius "Groucho" Marx

Songs of Education:
III. For the Creche

I remember my mother, the day that we met,
A thing I shall never entirely forget;
And I toy with the fancy that, young as I am,
I should know her again if we met in a tram.
But mother is happy in turning a crank
That increases the balance in somebody's bank;
And I feel satisfaction that mother is free
From the sinister task of attending to me.

They have brightened our room, that is spacious and cool,
With diagrams used in the Idiot School,
And Books for the Blind that will teach us to see;
But mother is happy, for mother is free.
For mother is dancing up forty-eight floors,
For love of the Leeds International Stores,
And the flame of that faith might perhaps have grown cold,
With the care of a baby of seven weeks old.

For mother is happy in greasing a wheel
For somebody else, who is cornering Steel;
And though our one meeting was not very long,
She took the occasion to sing me this song:
"O, hush thee, my baby, the time will soon come
When thy sleep will be broken with hooting and hum;
There are handles want turning and turning all day,
And knobs to be pressed in the usual way;

O, hush thee, my baby, take rest while I croon,
For Progress comes early, and Freedom too soon."

Prayer before study, by St Thomas Aquinas

O ineffable Creator,
Who, out of the treasure of Thy wisdom,
hast ordained three hierarchies of Angels,
and placed them in wonderful order above the heavens,
and hast most wisely distributed the parts of the world;
Thou, Who are called the true fountain of light and wisdom,
and the highest beginning,
vouchsafe to pour upon the darkness of my understanding,
in which I was born,
the double beam of Thy brightness,
removing from me all darkness of sin and ignorance.
Thou, Who makest eloquent the tongue of the dumb,
instruct my tongue,
and pour on my lips the grace of Thy blessing.

Give me quickness of understanding,
capacity of retaining,
subtlety of interpreting,
facility in learning,
and copious grace of speaking.

Guide my going in,
direct my going forward,
accomplish my going forth;
through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Chesterton on Christmas:

What has happened to me has been the very reverse of what appears to be the experience of most of my friends. Instead of dwindling to a point, Santa Claus has grown larger and larger in my life until he fills almost the whole of it. It happened in this way. As a child I was faced with a phenomenon requiring explanation. I hung up at the end of my bed an empty stocking, which in the morning became a full stocking. I had done nothing to produce the things that filled it. I had not worked for them, or made them or helped to make them. I had not even been good--far from it. And the explanation was that a certain being whom people called Santa Claus was benevolently disposed toward me. Of course, most people who talk about these things get into a state of some mental confusion by attaching tremendous importance to the name of the entity. We called him Santa Claus, because everyone called him Santa Claus; but the name of a god is a mere human label. His real name may have been Williams. It may have been the Archangel Uriel. What we believed was that a certain benevolent agency did give us those toys for nothing. And, as I say, I believe it still. I have merely extended the idea. Then I only wondered who put the toys in the stocking; now I wonder who put the stocking by the bed, and the bed in the room, and the room in the house, and the house on the planet, and the great planet in the void. Once I only thanked Santa Claus for a few dolls and crackers, now, I thank him for stars and street faces and wine and the great sea. Once I thought it delightful and astonishing to find a present so big that it only went halfway into the stocking. Now I am delighted and astonished every morning to find a present so big that it takes two stockings to hold it, and then leaves a great deal outside; it is the large and preposterous present of myself, as to the origin of which I can offer no suggestion except that Santa Claus gave it to me in a fit of peculiarly fantastic goodwill. *

David Fagerberg writes in The Essential Chesterton:

Until we are grateful, we will not find the world miraculous; until we find the world miraculous, we will not find it important; until we find the world important, we will not be happy here. The difference between ourselves and Chesterton is that we don’t think our world important because it seems ordinary, while he thinks his world is important because he is ordinary. "I am ordinary in the correct sense of the term; which means the acceptance of an order; a Creator and the Creation, the common sense of gratitude for Creation, life and love as gifts permanently good, marriage and chivalry as laws rightly controlling them, and the rest of the normal traditions of our race and religion." (my emphasis)

This ordinary happiness makes up the essence of Chesterton, and, woven into all his writings, perspicuous on whatever page one opens, it is his gift to those who suffer boredom. A happy saint is just the antidote we need.

"Love is like quicksilver in the hand. Leave the fingers open and it stays. Clutch it, and it darts away." - Dorothy Parker

"There's this place in me where your fingerprints still rest, your kisses still linger, and your whispers softly echo. It's the place where a part of you will forever be a part of me." - Gretchen Kemp

"For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it. For every truth there is an ear somewhere to hear it. For every love there is a heart somewhere to receive it." - Ivan Panin

Quoting Pope John Paul II "No Catholic can be pro-choice when the choice is killing unborn babies. ... If America is the home of the free and the land of the brave, then defend life."